Hey, working for Papa John’s was great. I lost so much money. I also destroyed my Baby Boy and got a Little Tikes Studio Design Toy Chest. Not too bad, I guess. As Life would have it, my trucks are triplets, and my toy boxes are close cousins.

About (hang on, I’m figuring it out – Wow!) four years ago, I was driving down Boundary St. in Beaufort, SC. I saw something out of the corner of my eye sitting outside a thrift shop. I turned around in the National Cemetery, and went back to lookee-see. I was right. Broiling in the pre-summer sun was the answer to a lot of my then two-and-a-half year old daughter’s (well, mine anyway) storage problems. A Little Tikes Toy Chest. Knowing this particular thrift store was usually pretty proud of their junk, I went inside to ask, “how much?” They were pretty proud of the Toy Chest, too. Thirty bucks. Ouch, but by then, it was too late. I was already in lurve with the idea of rearranging Edie-Bug’s room with her new, cool Toy Chest. I gave the lady ten-dollars hold money (good only until closing time), and picked it up that afternoon.

The Little Tikes Toy Chest fit perfectly in the back of my "Chruk", and Edie was pretty excited to have a new Little Tykes boat to play in. The Toy Chest isn’t that heavy empty, and I’m a little wussy-girl, so maneuvering it in and out of the truck and house wasn’t that hard. It’s pretty big (29 ½” wide by 19 ½” deep by 17 ½” high), though, making it a little awkward, but nothing I couldn’t handle while wrangling the baby.

I don’t know what magic plastic polymer Little Tikes uses in the manufacturing of their products, but the stuff lasts forever. My brother has Little Tikes yard play equipment that’s been out in the weather (i.e. extreme Florida summers) for more than ten years (all total, counting the fact that they were bought at yard sales) and they still look great and are extremely sturdy.

The lid, which measures 19 ½” by 23”, and is made out of the same magic plastic the Chest is made from. I like that even when the lid id fully closed there is still a one inch gap, running the length of the lid, so there would never be a suffocation issue. The lid is sort of hinged (pegs rest in holes) but comes off easily. This isn’t a problem for my kids (ages six and two), who remove the lids and use them as spaceship racers. The green of the lid compliments the just off-white of the toy box.

Now that four years have passed, and since I lucked into the Studio Chest, I’ve handed this Toy Chest down to my two-year-old son. There’s plenty of room for most of his junk ‘n stuff, although due to the overall size of the Toy Chest, he almost fell in once while trying to empty all the contents. I thought it was cute. He just hung there in a balanced limbo, and said, “hep, hep, hep” over and again until I rescued him. My daughter has always been tall (she’s six now, and is 48 ¼” tall), so she never had a bottom-of-the-well problem.

I paid too much for the Little Tikes Toy Chest, but I don’t complain because I really couldn’t imagine life without it. Besides, if I eat the Spinach Alfredo pizza at Papa John’s, I'll save beau coup cash on post mortem expenses.





This is an official entry into pippadaisy's Yard Sale Write-Off. She said thrift shops were okay. See, Pip, I told you I’d get you a real one (sort of).

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 30.00
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: Whole Family